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LAST UPDATE | 22 May 2023
MINISTER STEPHEN DONNELLY has defended signing into law new legislation on health labelling for alcohol products.
The law means that the labels of alcohol products will state the calorie content and grams of alcohol in the product.
They will also warn about the risk of consuming alcohol when pregnant and of the risk of liver disease and fatal cancers from alcohol consumption.
Ireland is the first country in the world to introduce such regulations.
There is a three-year lead-in time built into the law in order to give businesses time to prepare for the change.
The law will apply from 22 May 2026.
As well as health labelling of alcohol products sold in Ireland, similar health information will be available for customers in licensed premises.
Donnelly said in a statement today: “This law is designed to give all of us as consumers a better understanding of the alcohol content and health risks associated with consuming alcohol.
“With that information, we can make an informed decision about our own alcohol consumption.
“Packaging of other food and drink products already contains health information and, where appropriate, health warnings.
“This law is bringing alcohol products into line with that.”
This law is designed to ensure all consumers of alcohol have access to clear and concise information about the risks from alcohol.
Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, Donnelly said he will “make no apologies for making sure that people in Ireland get access to the health warnings that they need”.
“What we’re doing is we’re saying people are free to live the lives that they want to lead. And we are making sure that they can make informed choices for themselves. So up until now, where there are health risks associated with particular foods or particular drinks, those warnings quite rightly have been on those products,” Donnelly said, adding that people should still have a drink if they wish to.
“All we’re doing is saying people have a right to know what the health risks are. And the surveys we’ve done make it very clear that the vast majority of people are not aware of those risks,” he said.
Donnelly said he is not concerned that some other EU member states have issues with the move.
“We’ve been through a process with the EU and we now have the green light from the EU and that’s why I’ve now signed the commencement order,” he said.
“We’ve also been through a process with the World Trade Organization. There was a particular set of processes required with both groups that needed to be gone through and cleared before we proceeded. They’ve now both been gone through and we are therefore proceeding.”
Campaign group Alcohol Action Ireland described it as a very significant development in alcohol policy.
“We commend Minister Donnelly for his leadership in this action,” CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said.
“This measure goes some way to ensuring consumers are informed about some of the risks from alcohol.”
With reporting by Press Association
Just another label that most will not read, which will likely be so small anyway you can’t see it! People know about the affects of alcohol this is just ticking another box. If pictures on packets of cigarettes don’t stop you smoking this certainly won’t. Why not try to really look at why some people drink excessively and try to enable people want to drink themselves into oblivion, but this is a huge mountain to climb and its easier to claim to be first in the world to put a label on a bottle than improve peoples quality of life and mental health.
@Lydia . People in this country seem happy to drink themselves into oblivion, let’s try and get to the reason why. There is so much more to life than getting smashed every weekend.
@Paddy Ryan:
Are you speaking from your own point of view ? Obviously you are! I am a pensioner who doesn’t need someone like you to lecture me!!! I can exercise self control as can 99.9% of the people. Twenty first century Matt Talbot!!!
@Paddy Ryan: People get drunk cos its a distraction from life for many, or they go out cos its the only time they think you can meet up and be social with people. Theres lots of reasons and as someone has already said, these folk wont read some label about health warnings. All this is would be another pointless move by the ban it all or anti this and that brigades to look good. You never hear these groups demanding more money be put into services like mental health or counselling etc and maybe not waste whatever the cost was on these labels that will utlimately end up like minimum pricing just looking like another virtue signalling event thats worth nothing
@Tom Newell: agreed the labels will do nothing
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: I didn’t lecture you at all.
@Paddy Ryan:
Apologies , you didn’t lecture me , but you placed the vast majority in with the vast minority. Do you drink?
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: 99.9% exercise control? That’s another of those slick throwaway cliques. From my experience I’d estimate about 20% of users of the drug, alcohol, are not as in control of it as they would like to be. Therefore I’m going for c.80% exercise control and 20% simply cannot. Have I got figures to back that up? Yes, kind of; friends, life’s experiences, co-workers, first wife who left a long time ago etc. Hope that helps.
@Richard Ahern:
Ok, 99.9% was a anecdotal figure. I too don’t have certified stats but like you am basing it on my working experiences. I have been employed in the hospitality/tourism industry for my working life and base my facts on my experiences. Maybe we move in different spheres!!
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: hmmmm, yes, I see what you mean. However, based on my experiences I’m pretty sure that, for my circle of friends, family, etc, that those IN control are closer to 80% and nowhere near the virtual 100% quoted earlier. Thanks.
@Richard Ahern: I would tend to agree with the figure being higher than 0.01% are not in control, but I don’t know if it’s 20%. Then again I guess it depends on your definition of control. Ollie says he’s in the hospitality sector so perhaps his tolorent level for control is higher as he’s used to it, whereas if you look at the level for driving it is practically zero (for good reason). On Saturday night just gone in Dublin with a couple of big events happening in the city, I didn’t see any trouble, but I didn’t see many people “in control” but I thought they were grand, staggering but not taking the most efficient routes home :)
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: I’ll drink to that
@Richard Ahern: Doesn’t matter who is right, labels will never be used,just another way of driving up costs for manufacturers which will be passed on to consumers
Nanny State!!! Next there will be a booklet with every bottle or tin of beer.
Strange there’s a subsidised bar in the Dail…….. Or is it?……. With unpaid tabs.
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: Nanny State? I don’t think so. Just a government warning it’s citizens of the potential side affects of a potentially dangerous substance.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: so where’s the warning about cars potentially causing death?
@JustBEERbarry: they run road safety ads and ads to lower your speed and have checkpoints on speed and penalty points and fines and prosecutions for dangerous driving – does that help?
Labels will warn about the risk of electing certain politicians
@GERARD KENNELLY: I can suggest the colour of these need be green
Who actually read the labels anyway?? There should be warnings on all ballot papers that ” MOST POLITICIANS ARE DANGEROUS TO OUR HEALTH”
Great idea, after the genius of “how to wash your hands” full ad during COVID working on how to clean your bụm now. Common sense is all but gone
@Dan Danny: You should have included Enda’s step by step guide (on the main evening news if you don’t mind) on how to brush our teeth and conserve water during the water charge fiasco.
Still gonna buy Havana 7 Year Rum cos I like it. Labeling won’t change my mind.
@Rafa C: no no no Havana 7yr old is mass produced muck. Mount Gay extra old man….
@Thomas Meaney: I like it. I like many dark rums. Shall give it a try
Again, a label won’t define what I enjoy.
@Thomas Meaney: diplomatico rum
Another pointless and clueless approach to tackling the alcohol problem in the country. If anyone thinks a label is going to stop people from drinking that want too, then you need as much help as anyone cos you arent living in the real world. All this is would be another virtue signalling attempt by another ban it all group who have no clue what they are doing except spending taxpayers money to look good. Want to really tackle the alcohol issues, how about more money for counselling for those suffering mental health or social issues and drink cos if it, stop assuming things like minimum pricing and price hikes will stop people buying cos it wont. Also tackle the greed where non alcohol drinks are exactly the same price as ones with alcohol basically saying for many whats the point if they go out and see they are still being ripped off.
@Tom Newell: I agree, the price control on non-alcoholic is a right turn off would make much more sense to tackle that, but we all know the vintners aasoc. won’t like that change and will lobby against any real change. They’ll come on and say otherwise and dress it up like it’s on their favour to have people drinking moderately and they’re all for it but really, no. I’m not against people drinking and having a good time, I do drink, but those that choose not to drink should be treated fairly, the current pricing for non-alcoholic drinks is a price gouge.
I wonder what the Publicans/Vintners have to say about this..? They don’t want anyone spending money in Off Licenses and drinking at the house as it’s apparently very damaging to one’s health..They don’t seem to mind anyone drinking 15 or 16 pints in the pub though at 6 or 7 euro a go though. What is that all about…?
Finally – giving the people what they want! I commend this move by our dear leaders! Without them, where would we be? People bang on about ‘housing’, ‘hospitals’, ‘services’ and ‘the cost of living’… and silly little things like that – but THIS is the sort of change we all voted for. Suddenly… the world doesn’t seem so uncertain anymore. You know… I think, I REALLY think we’re going to be alright now. A great start to the day! Thank you, dear leaders.
@David XYZ: Also… to be the ‘world’s first’, it… it makes me so proud. We really are the best country in the whole world. Other countries will surely follow our lead, and before you know it – ALL the countries of the world will be displaying calories on alcholol labels! It is so important, in the grand scheme of things! They’ll probably be thinking “oh… why didn’t WE think of that!?” Well – maybe next time guys!! Maybe next time!! A real ‘world’s first’, so proud of our little country today, surely leading the way – thank you Minister Donnelly!
Great news! This will give some element of balance to the alcohol industry’s fun-, filled adverts, none of which ever show hungover people the next morning, violence on the streets, some people that may suffer depression or anxiety from it , accidents caused, arguments created, feeling low and useless, or alcoholics who damage the physical and mental welfare of those close to them. This will go some way, however small, in helping the sizable minority who are very badly effected by this drug’s side effects. The majority of drinkers will happily continue as as they are which is fine.
@Richard Ahern: People are not stupid. everyone that drinks knows the risk in over drinking. Also it is all those that are drunk that cause fights in the streets.
@Richard Ahern: except it won’t / it won’t make a blind bit if difference / it will only add costs into the process that customers always have to pay for / there is no evidence from anywhere in the world that this is effective or is anything other than being a nanny state and trying to create the impression you are doing something / when you are the only place in the world doing something like this you should ask why instead of following the herd narrative / ask why / ask for the facts / ask for measurable indices for effectiveness and chart if it’s working / but no some people will just cheer lead any ol nonsense initiative that distracts from the repeated failure to address the real problems
Government by lobby group.
I think this is a good thing. It won’t change alcohol consumption IMO but it’s good to know what you’re drinking. If the government want to really set an example they need to get rid of the Dail bar – no alcohol should be served or consumed at any public sector location or event.
@Sean Ryan: it’s not a good thing, it’s nannyism and how does it inform you about issues you didn’t know previously? Are you telling us you didn’t know the risks? Are the general public THAT silly that they don’t already know alcohol consumption can lead to cancer? Alcohol DEPENDENCE is the issue, not the alcohol.
@JustBEERbarry: I don’t think it’ll make any difference, as I stated. However I think including calories is a good thing. What’s your actual issue with it?
@Sean Ryan: the proposed labelling is the issue, it will be hideous and is a ridiculous idea proposed by AAI and supported by curtain twitchers. And some brands already include calories on their packaging. And calories etc are easily calculated. Maybe displaying the method of calculating it is a better idea than slapping a big sticker on stuff. The higher the abv % the higher the calories, not that difficult to convey or understand really
@JustBEERbarry: sounds like you’re getting rattled over nothing. I hate “nannyism” but really don’t see the problem with this.
@Sean Ryan: wait until every bottle in an off licence is wrapped with cigarette style warning taking up about 60% of the current labels size with information you already know. Units? It’s already there, not drink driving, it’s already there, not drinking while pregnant, it’s already there. Calories, it’s already there on certain products. Like I said earlier it’d be easier to tell people the calories are a direct consequence of the abv. Drink driving is already against the law, drinking while pregnant has been discouraged for at least 50 years, units might not translate as clearly to people so make the calorie warning relating to the abv as calories are directly related to abv as factual information, it’s really not hard but it seems we are making it harder than it needs to be.
Ridiculous. The chances of these same puritans reviewing and changing the drug laws are next to nothing
Irelands latest tactic of creating an Irish solution to an Irish problem seems to be endless awareness campaigns , warning labels , gamble aware , drink aware , quit smoking , slow down , expensive tv ads to repeat ad nauseum and quangos and commission reports about how effective everything is , doors in supermarkets , warning labels , and giving business time to adjust is usually code for , how do we put the price up and make consumers pay for all this , the supreme irony always lost on government here , that these initiatives always end up costing the people more , they wonder why we have the hugest prices in Ireland and can’t see that adding excise duties , ad campaigns , labels and warnings costs that the customers end up paying for / need major change in ireland
That’s that sorted!
The likes of Health Minister Stephen Donnelly would be better placed to set up an inquiry into the hundreds of thousands of people who were subjected to wrongful arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention under the now revoked 1945 Mental Treatment Act as Amended. That would include my own Father, depriving me of ever having any contact with him whatsoever. No mere label on alcohol will come anywhere close to solving the problems of alcohol abuse and alcoholism.
Donnelly has a massive ego and is intent on leaving some kind of legacy. He certainly won’t be remembered for improving the health service.
Thinking of wine which is all imported. I can see the choice on offer being reduced. Will a small producer, say in France, get special labels printed just for the Irish market or just stop supplying Ireland?
@Kieran Henry: they will stop supplying Ireland if the additional labels are required. Most vineyards are small operations and the French DEFINITELY won’t comply with such nonsensical regulations. This will be binned by the EU because all those wine producing countries won’t take it. France, Spain, Italy? Nah.
@Kieran Henry:
Irish exported Alcohol products won’t have the label either, we’re not going to tell the rest of the world our products cause Cancer.
This is so daft. Why doesn’t who ever is coming up with this should mind their own business on who consumes whatever. My father drank like a fish, smoked and ate a fried breakfast daily and lived till 82. If he lived a “clean” life he probably would have added on 5 or 7 extra years, but would those years living healthy have been happy? I doubt it.
This nannyism has to stop lads. Are they going to put a health warning about cancer on a big mac box as well?
This is good. I’ve always been curious about the sugar content in beer. I’d also love to see ingredients listed!
@Cullen Cullen: read somewhere that alcohol is fermented sugar.
@Declan Reidy: alcohol IS fermented sugars
@Cullen Cullen: your beer should be listing the ingredients already. And there should only be 4. Water, malt, yeast and hops.
Another politician pretending his saving the world to get much needed publicity,
What a joke. Embarrassing. We all know it will make no difference. Ireland king of world wokeism.
its a pity they didnt do something similar when they where shoving the jab into the population,because if folks knew the side effects and dangers it caused they wouldnt have touch it with a barge pole
I, Martin Taniane am an Irish born citizen and I formally and publicly request Health Minister Mr Stephen Donnelly to set up a public inquiry into my fathers wrongful arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention to St Brigid’s Mental Hospital in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, plus the abusive treatment which I personally received against my will, which included four involuntary committals, two of which were as a person of unsound mind. All because they were unwilling to admit the root cause of my problems stemmed from being deprived of parental association with my late father. The appalling use of coercion and forced drugging needs to be exposed. Any inquiry should include every individual who was arbitrarily arrested and deprived of their liberty and freedom under the 1945 MT Act. After 25 years I was left with no other option but to settle my legal case, virtually for peanuts. It certainly did not represent Justice by any stretch of the imagination.
Handy for us calorie counters though, if you can read it
@Martin Gorry:
The calories are already on certain products. Also a handy rule of thumb, the higher the % the higher the calories
Granny state , I travel all over Europe for work stop trying to be the person in class no one likes .
The majority of people have no real understanding about alcoholism or alcoholics for that matter, and that includes the medical professions and the department of health. Once you get down to causes and conditions a sane person will find a whole lot of pain and suffering. When that pain and suffering is cause by the State they will never acknowledge or admit their own faults and failings, especially when they are confronted with legal proceedings. And then you have clowns who can’t figure out why people commit suicide. It is after all the ultimate escape from inner pain.
As the Harvard Medical blog states, moderate alcohol consumption is widely considered to be safe.
We eat a lot of food which is potentially far worse for our health than an occasional glass of wine, and almost none of it carries a health warning.
It is sad to see Donnelly taking advice from a bunch of puritanical zealots and introducing this type of legislation.
This ejit Steven donnelly only got 7.97% of first preference votes…and took 15 counts for him to get enough votes transferred…and he is our health minister….he shouldn’t be rewarded a ministers position ffs
It’s time to get rid of most of the td’s….one td per county 26 its a nice even number like 160….
One vote one count…non of this transfer crap any more…and do away with party’s…each td represents their county at a national level in the Dail no need for this party crap…
@William slevin:
The old adage seems to be to the fore in FF /FG /Cabbage party when choosing ministers.
” Surround yourself with the geniuses you will look like a fool, Surround yourself with fools and you’ll look like a genius”
This seems to be the criteria used when picking this government!!
Nonsense, I highly doubt you will ever see these labels on a shelf in an off licence. It adds significant cost to an already very costly product that’s already heavily restricted by time, location and MUP. give people a bit of credit.
Legalise Cannabis for personal use.
Wondering if and how the “required” information will be presented when I’m enjoying my freshly pulled pint out of a keg??? Anyone???
I, Martin Taniane am an Irish born citizen and I formally and publicly request Health Minister Mr Stephen Donnelly to set up a public inquiry into my fathers wrongful arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention to St Brigid’s Mental Hospital in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, plus the abusive treatment which I personally received against my will, which included four involuntary committals, two of which were as a person of unsound mind. All because the State and the system of Psychiatry, which is a pseudoscience were unwilling to admit the root cause of my problems stemmed from being deprived of parental association with my late father. The appalling use of coercion and forced drugging needs to be exposed. Any inquiry should include every individual who was arbitrarily arrested and deprived of their liberty and freedom under the 1945 MT Act. After 25 years I was left with no other option but to settle my legal case, virtually for peanuts. It certainly did not represent Justice by any stretch of the imagination.
This policy seems to be completely at odds with the late licensing laws.
does Donnelly think people have been living under rocks until he came along clown
@john maher:
John, I would be loath to label Donnelly as a clown. A clowns role in life is to make people happy and feel good. He does the exact opposite!!
Genuis stuff
I welcome this, I want to know what’s in anything that I consume so that I can make my own “informed” decision. As for it doing anything about people abusing alcohol, I doubt it.
@Cable Stayed: Will you stop. Do you think a label will tell you what’s in a product? I new a fella who used to work in a pizza factory and regularly cleared out his nose into the pizza dough vat. That’s right and there was no mention of mucous on the ingredients label.
So you go ahead with your “informed” decisions, living life on the wide side – NOT
@briar: I very clearly stated that I don’t believe it will change the behaviour of anyone abusing alcohol. I also think minimum pricing is a ridiculous idea. I wish to have the information, so I can make decisions such as…if two beers taste the same but one has double the calories of the other I can choose the lower calorie option, or if I have a busy day tomorrow I can choose the lower alcohol one. Or if one brand is using more preservatives than another. If you wish to live your life in blissful ignorance, I suggest you just don’t read any labels, that way we all get what we want. As for your anecdote of illegal and immoral behaviour, citing an incident of extremely low probability as a reason not to provide information at all, is a rather bizarre notion.
@Cable Stayed: the lower the abv the lower the alcohol content the lower the calories. there’s never been as many sub 4% options to choose from why do you or anyone need a label to tell you what to buy?
@JustBEERbarry: The alcohol content is not the only factor that affects the calorie content of beer. Other factors that impact the calories in beer include residual sugars, the type and amount of malt used, and the overall brewing process. There is no legal definition around terms like “light beer” a company is permitted to call a beer light because of colour, flavour or any other reason they choose. If you are happy to calculate your alcohol consumption based on your knowledge of ABV to calories, fair play to you. Personally I prefer that my information is simple, regulated to avoid ambiguity and easy to read. Businesses will only voluntarily tell you the information that sells the most product, that’s why most useful information that is on a label is there by regulation..including ABV.
@Cable Stayed: abv is tightly controlled by revenue from a tax compliance point of view. if you know there are producers fudging the numbers then let revenue know. If you aren’t sure what a light beer is and are relying on a producer to tell you then you will be waiting, look at the alcohol content, rockshore light is 3.5%, they include the calories and the ingredients, not sure what other information you require and what else the label should include? Calories relating to ABV is the simplest form of getting the message across, make it too complex and you’ve already lost people. And from what I see, people already don’t give a fudge about it.
@JustBEERbarry: that’s my point …ABV is accurate because it is regulated and not voluntary, that’s why we need regulated information on labels and not just marketing. Obesity related health issues are a huge impact on people’s quality of life, why would you object to the calorific value of a product being displayed, so people, who want to, can more accurately manage their daily intake. Believe it or not, many people are not fully aware of the maths to get from alcohol percentage to calories, that’s like expecting people to work out the calories in a loaf of bread by the declared amount of sugars. Why would you object to people having the same information for a beer as they do for a coke?
@Cable Stayed: break it down as simple as possible for people by linking abv and calories or it’s a complete waste of time as it will be ignored. I feel it will be ignored anyhow but linking it is the only possible factor that MAY influence choice.
@JustBEERbarry: I absolutely agree it will be ignored by the overwhelming majority of people, but if it helps a few and doesn’t hurt those that don’t care…then it’s a positive.
Don’t let the alcohol industry fool you, labeling costs them nothing. Even less if they export to America; last time I was in Boston, this information and more was on the labels.
Reading the comments here I can’t understand why equipping people with more knowledge is seen as such a negative.
Someone has left a comment below “as a rule of thumb the higher % the higher the calories”.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. An example being whiskey on ice at 40ish calories and close to 40%.
Steps like this will help to educate people and that can only be seen as a good thing.
@D: whiskey on ice????!!!
@D:
So another whiskey or gin will be very enjoyable and almost no extra calories…
Thank you, D!
Donnelly has done really, really well. But discriminating against small wine producers in the EU is not good. Hie might have been conned into this.
I would have voted for Donnelly everytime up until now. But not after this.
Are people dieing for a pint?
Cancer and other nasty side effects – not a great look!
have your say